Fox News host Dana Perino on Monday criticized President Donald Trump and his administration over their purported deal to end the Iran war, arguing the lack of details behind the memorandum of understanding announced Sunday is a win for Democrats.
Lack of Transparency
The “Five” co-host noted Trump’s White House has touted itself as the “most transparent” administration in history, only for a lack of specifics behind the memorandum set to be signed Friday to suggest otherwise, and then rattled off everything Democrats could now validly say.
“I could make their arguments better for them, because there are things that you could say that, you would be able to think, ’OK, so you killed all of those 40 leaders, but now the IRGC is in charge,” Perino said Monday, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
She continued: “OK, so that’s who we’re dealing with and that’s who we’re supposed to stand next to on Friday? And sign an agreement that nobody has seen or read? This is the most transparent administration in history? But we can’t read it?”
Perino noted she can easily “make all of those points,” prompting co-host Greg Gutfeld to joke, “You have to stop doing that.”
The sole liberal voice on the program, Jessica Tarlov, said, “I think she sounds great!” Tarlov has regularly criticized the war and its purported necessity.
War Background
The Iran war began in late February with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran. It has already killed at least 13 U.S. military service members and more than 3,000 Iranians. It has also disrupted the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
The unpopular war has contributed to dire U.S. approval ratings for Trump, whose fellow Republicans are predicting potential disaster in the upcoming midterm elections. Trump is currently in Europe, but suggested Monday he might not attend the signing Friday in Geneva.
Among his stated aims of the war was preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Perino’s Analysis
“Like we said at the very beginning, the victories are usually visible, clear, understandable,” said Perino, adding: “We haven’t even read the information. If I were the Democrats, I would be saying, ‘You telegraph everything else, why won’t you just let us read the thing?’”
Perino, who served as White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, argued the reason might be that “things are still being worked out” privately — and that the Trump administration “jumped the gun” in announcing a deal Sunday before it was finalized.
She then argued that Trump has accomplished a lot in Iran, however, citing the 2020 assassination of military leader Qassem Soleimani and last year’s “Operation Midnight Hammer” — which Trump said at the time had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Like, all of that is different and better and puts us in a better position than we were 10 years ago,” Perino said Monday. “Or even more than that, like when the JCPOA written by Obama was there.”
Former President Barack Obama didn’t write the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but it was indeed secured in 2015 under his administration. Trump exited the deal, which included a vow that Iran would not develop nuclear weapons, in 2018 — and has criticized the deal on countless occasions since.
